Scotland is at the centre of an innovative attempt to tackle the acknowledged deficit of emerging leaders in the global hospitality and tourism industry.

The International Leadership School in Scotland (ILSS) is the result on an industry-led initiative and is being chaired by Gleneagles boss Peter Lederer. The school will bring together the combined forces of Strathclyde Business School, Cornell University in New York and École Hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland to deliver a new two-year executive masters degree in hospitality and tourism leadership.

Lederer says what makes the course different is it is industry led. "Usually academia goes to the market and says they have this new course and have done some research and tries to sell it," he says. "Whereas this is the demand side saying to the supply side what we want.

"The second thing that is unique is the coming together of three international institutions to do it. That has never been done before."

"It is aimed at the emerging leaders so it could be a very good manager who is running a hotel who has real potential and could be running a company in the next three to five years. But whilst he is a very good manager he does not have the skills in terms of strategic thinking or brand management or financing or technology. So this course is very much focused on giving him those skills.

"We hope it will attract people from all over the world. It is a win-win situation. We hope the Scottish industry will take benefit from it but equally wouldn't it be great to see people in five years' time - people from all over the world - coming into this programme?" Lederer believes the course could be expanded to cover the whole service sector. "My longer term vision is - given it is successful - to extend it across the service sector because if anybody could do with some service industry understanding it is the banks and the insurance sector and airlines and anybody else in the service business."

David Cochrane, chief executive of the Hospitality Industry Trust in Scotland (HITs), will take on the additional role of chief executive of the new body.

Ilss will also offer a series of executive education modules for senior management.

The programme - which has received funding from the Scottish Funding Council and Scottish Enterprise - is scheduled to start in January 2012.